The present invention relates to a slide door attached to a side or the like of a vehicle in an opening/closing enabled manner, and particularly to a slide door including an intermediate stopper mechanism for restraining the movement of the slide door, which is in an opening direction and is in the middle of opening, within a definite range.
As shown in FIG. 8, a window glass 1 is disposed in a slide door 3 of a vehicle or the like in a rising/falling enabled manner. Thus, when the slide door 3 is opened while the window glass 1 is in a lower position, if an object is inserted in the window of this slide door 3, there is a fear that this object is pinched between a window frame 7 of the slide door 3 and a pillar 9, and receives damage.
Then, in order to avoid this situation, it is proposed that an intermediate stopper mechanism is provided, and when the window glass 1 is lowered to a position lower than a predetermined one, the slide door moving in the opening direction is stopped in the middle of opening.
As an example of this slide door, there is one as shown in FIG. 9.
First, in a period when the window glass 1 descends from a full-close state by a predetermined amount L (for example, 150 mm), an intermediate stopper control mechanism 11 pulls in a cable 13 (accurately, its inner cable) in accordance with this descending amount. On the other hand, when the movement stroke of the cable 13 reaches a set value, pulling in the cable 13 is stopped. However, even in this state, the window glass 1 can be lowered.
An intermediate stopper mechanism 15 is coupled with the intermediate stopper control mechanism 11 through the cable 13. This intermediate stopper mechanism 15 is driven by the intermediate stopper control mechanism 11, and is for stopping the slide door 3 moving in the opening direction in the middle of opening. An X-arm type wind regulator 16 is for driving the window glass 1 in the up-and-down direction.
Here, the structure of the intermediate stopper control mechanism 11 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 10. A base plate 31 is fixed to an inner panel of the slide door 3, and a pin 33 is provided to stand on this base plate 31. A first lever 35 and a second lever 37 are rotatably attached to this pin 33.
A spiral spring 39 is wound around the pin 33, one end portion 39a of which is fastened to the first lever 35, and the other end portion 39b of which is fastened to the second lever 37.
A roller 41 is disposed at a rotation end of the first lever 35, and this roller 41 is engaged with a guide 17 provided at a lower portion of the window glass 1 movably in the horizontal direction in the drawing. A cable 13 is connected to the second lever 37.
Next, the structure of the intermediate stopper mechanism 15 will be described with reference to FIG. 11. A base plate 21 is fixed to the lower portion of the inner panel of the slide door 3, and a lever 22 is rotatably attached onto the base plate 21. The lever 22 is coupled with the cable 13, and is energized in the direction of an arrow I by not-shown energizing means. An elastic roller 24 is disposed at the tip of this lever 22. On the other hand, a step portion 28 capable of abutting on the roller 24 is formed at the side of a vehicle body 26.
In the foregoing conventional slide door 3, when the window glass 1 in the full-close state is lowered by using the window regulator 16, the first lever 35 is also rotated in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. 10 as the window glass 1 is lowered. Since the second lever 37 is also connected with the first lever 35 through the spiral spring 39, it is rotated in the counterclockwise direction, and pulls in the cable 13.
When the movement stroke of the cable 13 reaches a set value, the rotation of the second lever 37 is restrained, and it becomes impossible to rotate in accordance with the first lever 35. However, even in this state, the spiral spring 39 is elastically deformed to be shrunk, so that only the first lever 35 can rotate in the counterclockwise direction, and the window glass 1 can be lowered.
Thus, when the window glass 1 is lowered from the full-close state by the predetermined amount L or more, the intermediate stopper control mechanism 11 pulls in the cable 13 by a predetermined amount, and the lever 22 rotates against the energizing force of the not-shown energizing means, and moves from the position indicated by a two-dot-chain line in FIG. 11 to the position indicated by a solid line.
When the slide door 3 is moved in the opening direction in this state, the roller 24 abuts on the step portion 28 of the vehicle body side, and stops at the position, so that it becomes impossible to open the slide door 3 anymore.
Incidentally, it is designed such that the slide door 3 including such intermediate stopper mechanism 15 can be locked at the full-open position by a full open stopper mechanism. As shown in FIG. 12, a conventionally well-known full open stopper mechanism has such a structure that a roller 27 disposed at the side of the slide door 3 is movably engaged with a guide rail 23 at the vehicle side, a plate spring 25 with a part protruding in the guide rail 23 is provided, and the roller 27 causes this plate spring 25 to be elastically deformed and reaches the full-open position, so that the slide door is held at the full-open position.
In the slide door 3 including the intermediate stopper mechanism 15, even if the window glass 1 is lowered and an object is inserted in the window of the slide door 3, a space exists between the window frame 7 of the slide door 3 and the pillar 9 without fail in this situation, so that it is possible to avoid such a situation that the object inserted in the window is pinched. However, there are defects as described below.
(1) In the case where the window glass 1 is lowered from the full-open state, before the window glass 1 reaches the predetermined amount L, since the intermediate stopper control mechanism 11 gradually pulls the cable 13, the lever 22 is also gradually rotated. Thus, when the slide door 3 is strongly pulled in the opening direction in the state where the lowering amount of the window glass 1 is slightly smaller than the predetermined amount L, the roller 24 abuts on the step portion 28, and then, gets over this and advances, and the slide door 3 moves to the full-open position.
That is, at the time of switching operation of the intermediate stopper mechanism 15, the roller 24 is in a halfway state, in this halfway state, the roller 24 gets over the step portion 28 and advances. When the slide door 3 slides in this state, a large load is applied to the roller 24, the lever 22, the base plate 21, and the like, so that the durability of these parts is deteriorated, and in addition, an abnormal sound is produced, an open operating force of the slide door 3 is increased, and a feeling of operation becomes bad as well.
(2) When the window glass 1 is lowered by the predetermined amount L or more, it is necessary that the roller 24 certainly abuts on the step portion 28 of the vehicle body side and to stop the slide door 3. However, since the roller 24 is in the halfway state within a wide range, in order to obtain a certain operation, it is absolutely necessary to adjust the attachment state of the base plate 21 through trial and error.
(3) Through pulling the cable 13, in order to largely change the roller 24 from the position where it does not abut on the step portion 28 to the position where it abuts on the step portion, it is necessary to make the length r of the lever 22 long and to secure the magnification of a movement amount. Thus, an occupied space of an inner mechanism becomes large as the lever 22 becomes long.
(4) The intermediate stopper control mechanism 11 is physically independent from another mechanism. Besides, the first lever 35 is directly engaged with the window glass 1 having a large movement range. Thus,the first lever 35 becomes large, and a large occupied space is necessary.
(5) Since the energizing force of the energizing means to energize the lever 22 is such that the lever 22 is pressed in the lock direction, the energizing force of this energizing means cannot be made small thoughtlessly. On the other hand, the lever 22 is rotated and deformed against the energizing force of the energizing means by the force of lowering the window glass 1. Thus, the operation force of the window regulator 16 is large.
(6) In the case where the window glass 1 is lowered by an amount exceeding the predetermined amount L, it is necessary to shrink the spiral spring 39, and the operating force of the window regulator 16 is increased.
Incidentally, the foregoing slide door 3 has defects as described below with respect to the full-open stopper mechanism as well.
(1) In order for the full-open stopper mechanism to change into an unlock state or lock state, it is necessary that the roller 27 gets over the plate spring 25, and at this time, a large open operating force becomes necessary for the slide door 3.
(2) Since the movement of the roller 27 is prohibited by the plate spring 25 having no rigidity, the force to hold the slide door 3 at the full-open position is weak.
An object of the present invention is to provide a slide door which overcomes the defects of the conventional slide door.
That is, a first object of the invention is to provide a slide door in which a halfway state does not occur at switching of an intermediate stopper mechanism.
A second object is to provide a slide door in which an inner mechanism can be made compact, and adjustment at the time of assembling is unnecessary.
A third object is to provide a slide door in which an open/close operating force of the slide door and an operating force of a window glass is small and is not changed, and the operationally is superior.
The present invention relates to a slide door including an intermediate stopper mechanism, and the intermediate stopper mechanism includes an intermediate striker disposed at a vehicle side; a first pole rotatably provided at a slide door side and detachably engaged with the intermediate striker; first energizing means for energizing the first pole so that the first pole is returned to a position where it can abut on the intermediate striker; a first latch which is a latch to engage with the first pole rotated to a position where it cannot abut on the intermediate striker and to restrain the first pole at that position, and which releases restraint of the first pole when a window glass of the slide door is opened to a predetermined position; and second energizing means for energizing the first latch in a direction to make engagement with the first pole.
By this structure, in the slide door of the invention, at switching of the intermediate stopper mechanism, a halfway state does not occur. Besides, an internal structure can be made compact, and adjustment at the time of assembling becomes unnecessary, and further, an open/close operating force of the slide door and an operating force of the window glass are small and are not changed, and the operationally is also superior.
Moreover, in the invention, if an intermediate stopper control mechanism for driving the intermediate stopper mechanism in accordance with an opening degree of the window glass is attached to a window regulator, the intermediate stopper control mechanism can be made compact. As the intermediate stopper control mechanism, for example, it is possible to use one constituted by a cam disposed at a movable portion of the window regulator, and a lever rotatably disposed at a fixed portion of the window regulator, including an arm portion engagable with the cam, and being connected with the intermediate stopper mechanism through a transmission member.
The invention can also be provided with a full-open stopper mechanism, and this full-open stopper mechanism includes a full-open striker disposed at the vehicle body side; a second latch rotatably disposed at the slide door side and detachably engaged with the full-open striker; third energizing means for energizing the second latch so as to return the second latch to a position where it can abut on the full-open striker; a second pole which is engaged with the second latch engaged with the full-open striker and rotated to a lock position, and which restrains the second latch to the position; and fourth energizing means for energizing the second pole in a direction to make engagement with the second latch.